1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to educational devices for improving literacy. More particularly, the invention is a transparent colored sheet having a generally triangular shape that is usable for sequentially highlighting various portions of written script, i.e., a linearly arranged set of adjacent symbols, e.g., letters, characters or syllables. The invention is useful for teaching a child how to read a word by sequentially highlighting groups of symbols (e.g., letters in the word) and asking the child to pronounce the highlighted symbols in sequence, each subsequent group including the previous group as well as one or more additional symbols.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wide variety of teaching aids for improving literacy are known, including those using plastic see-through windows that highlight a word or a portion of a word.
U.S. Pat. No. 203,988, issued to Bailey on May 21, 1878, teaches an educational device consisting of a rotatable disc for learning the alphabet. U.S. Pat. No. 502,183, issued to Gallegos on Jul. 25, 1893, teaches a teaching aid for learning spelling and numbers and includes a sliding glass pane which selectively covers portions of a word.
U.S. Pat. No. 572,972, issued to Eckhardt on Dec. 15, 1896, teaches an educational device for teaching a child to progressively pronounce letters in a word as the letters are successively exposed. U.S. Pat. No. 2,982,032, issued to Cooke on May 2, 1961, teaches an educational aid for learning syllables of words.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,279,098, issued to Taylor on Oct. 18, 1966, discloses a method for teaching letter and word sequences using an audio-visual aid. U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,428, issued to Hall on Jun. 20, 1972, discloses an educational aid for learning to tell time.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,863, issued to Pallishusky on Apr. 20, 1976, teaches an educational aid to learn the alphabet using a set of stackable transparent sheets. U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,529, issued to Yorkston on Feb. 22, 1977, teaches an educational aid using a set of transparent sheets that are sequentially applied in accordance with the “vanishing technique”.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,529, issued to Esbensen on Apr. 8, 1980, discloses a teaching aid for literacy using a sheet with a plurality of windows. U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,665, issued to Engel et al. on Jul. 28, 1992, discloses a teaching book for learning to spell using a series of overlapping pages the successively display letters.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,163, issued to Black on Sep. 19, 1995, discloses a teaching aid for learning reading and pronunciation in which a video tape recorder and a monitor are used to progressively display highlighted symbols or characters. U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,698, issued to Rowland on Dec. 17, 1996 teaches a method and apparatus for improving reading efficiency using transparent colored sheets.
However, none of the above prior art teaches the transparent colored reading teaching aid of the present invention having a generally triangular shape and having a staircase edge
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a reading teaching aid solving the aforementioned problems is desired.